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Bijou All Tube Futterman Headphone Amplifier - Page 163

post #2431 of 3981
Quote:
Originally Posted by adamus View Post
it wasnt - I'm in the uk. not such a big diy scene over here.

this is my bijou

Wow..that is even better than the one I saw here in Portland..
Congratulations on such a fantastic looking amp..

Where might I ask did you source the knobs from?
post #2432 of 3981
i am pretty sure it was partspipe from ebay, 40mm solid alu.
post #2433 of 3981
Adamus, where did you get your case? I know you posted it many pages ago - this thread reads like a Russian novel so forgive me for not searching.

BTW, it is so lovely looking and I hope you don't mind my copying it...
post #2434 of 3981
I got it from modushop.biz and feel free to copy - its flattering!
post #2435 of 3981
I've noticed my build is a bit sensitive to mains power junk. I suspect it's comming from the heater supply so I have a couple tricks up my sleeve I'd like to try. This amp will end up in my office where the mains is very noisy due to many industrial influences, so I'm going to need some extra effort to keep the power clean.

1. DC heaters. I hate these but sometime you have to do it. I've got a nice regulated 6.3v supply that I can just drop in thanks to the external heater wiring of the Bijou. The rectifier will stay on AC since any heater noise from there will get filtered out by the power supply. Polarity should be important due to the LED.

2. Replace R8 on power supply with 10H 270ohm choke. May need to tweak R7.

I owe some voltage measurements which are on the to-do list. Any thoughts folks?
post #2436 of 3981
Quote:
Originally Posted by adamus View Post
The beauty of the sohaII + bijou is that i can use the same tubes for the front end
Sounds like you need to build a CTH now, being you have the tubes already...
post #2437 of 3981
whitelabrat - how are you going to get 6.3v rectified and regulated off 6.3v windings?
post #2438 of 3981
Can't from the 6.3v windings. I built the heater supply from this. It should be good up to 3A. The regulator gets very hot though so I'll need to sink it better.

I used a 9v toroidal transformer to supply the required voltage.

My understanding is that tubes prefer and sound better with unregulated 6.3v AC heaters, but the downside is noise.
post #2439 of 3981
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitelabrat View Post
I've noticed my build is a bit sensitive to mains power junk. I suspect it's comming from the heater supply so I have a couple tricks up my sleeve I'd like to try. This amp will end up in my office where the mains is very noisy due to many industrial influences, so I'm going to need some extra effort to keep the power clean.

1. DC heaters. I hate these but sometime you have to do it. I've got a nice regulated 6.3v supply that I can just drop in thanks to the external heater wiring of the Bijou. The rectifier will stay on AC since any heater noise from there will get filtered out by the power supply. Polarity should be important due to the LED.

2. Replace R8 on power supply with 10H 270ohm choke. May need to tweak R7.

I owe some voltage measurements which are on the to-do list. Any thoughts folks?
Why not try the easiest fix first, and see about installing a commercially available mains filter?

I used a filtered DC inlet module on mine. But i admit that i haven't used the amp in anything like a corporate environment.
post #2440 of 3981
Actually I do have an outlet in the room with prime conditioned AC, but I'm prohibited for plugging into it. It's AC --> DC --> AC. Nice. Can't touch it.

I do have both a isolation transformer and a cheap filter, and a ton of noise gets through. It sounds like a war zone from a tube amp. I had the same problem with my Bruce Bender / Morgan Jones amp. Putting a 0.47uF film cap on the B+ supply helped a bit.

Overkill? Yes.
post #2441 of 3981
sure its not your source?
post #2442 of 3981
The source is a different problem.

A SuperPro707 (v3.2) DAC landed in my house yesterday and it kicks off a ground loop. I'm going to do terrible things to it so that problem will likely go away. Other sources don't have any issues.

I did some tests to prove it was mains. I plugged it into a spot in the house that has a quiet circuit on it with no source. No noise. Then in a noisy circuit with no source. Lots of noise. Removed noisy (an old IsoBar power strip) item from mains. Less noise.

Little clicks and pops, and in some cases a 120hz buzz that comes from a source that I can isolate gets through.
post #2443 of 3981
Quote:
Originally Posted by whitelabrat View Post
I've noticed my build is a bit sensitive to mains power junk. I suspect it's comming from the heater supply so I have a couple tricks up my sleeve I'd like to try. This amp will end up in my office where the mains is very noisy due to many industrial influences, so I'm going to need some extra effort to keep the power clean.

1. DC heaters. I hate these but sometime you have to do it. I've got a nice regulated 6.3v supply that I can just drop in thanks to the external heater wiring of the Bijou. The rectifier will stay on AC since any heater noise from there will get filtered out by the power supply. Polarity should be important due to the LED.

2. Replace R8 on power supply with 10H 270ohm choke. May need to tweak R7.

I owe some voltage measurements which are on the to-do list. Any thoughts folks?
Please see the Bijou website for two choke-based power supplies. If you haven't looked there yet.

And, as you note, DC heaters can be good or bad, depending. Good luck with this.

And, please let me know about those plate voltages with the 6bq7s.
post #2444 of 3981
No modification to stock Bijou schematic.

Voltage readings:

6aq7 pins 1-9 in order: 249.5v, 74.5, 124.9, 6.45v (ac), 6.45v (ac), 122.6, 4.1, 2.17, shield
6N6P-I: 199.5, 93.3, 97, heat, heat, 93, 0, 3.1, 0

PCC88: 249.7, 74.4, 125.0, 6.47, 6.47, 122.8, 3.4, 2.17, 0
6N6P-I: 196.2, 99.8, 103.0, heat, heat, 99.8, 0, 2.98, 0
post #2445 of 3981
Thanks. If these voltages are correct, this would indicate why the 6bq7s sound a little tinny.

Pin 6 is at 122V which is 20V too high for the operating point of the first stage. But the worst measurement is Pin 1 at 249V. This says that the plate of the phase splitter is the same as the B+ which means that, basically, no current is flowing in the phase splitter.

The only way to fix this is to adjust R2 to a smaller value until Pin 6 comes down to about 100V (actually 98V is the right value). If you do this then the phase splitter should redefine its operating point to have some current flowing.

Your PCC88 is doing, more or less, the same thing.

It is not possible to roll tubes without considering the whether the new, different tube type, will come to the same operating point as the original tube. In this case, it's simply not working.

If you have time to look on the Bijou website, there is a section which gives R2 values for some popular tubes. If you want to roll tubes, it's really handy to socket R2 on both amp boards so that you can change it out with the tube.

Once you get R2 right for the 6BQ7, let us know how it sounds.
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